Recent progress in creating and probing graphene quantum dots has offered a new platform to investigate Klein tunneling related phenomena. The quasi-bound resonances in these circular resonators can be confined even further by the application of a perpendicular magnetic field where they condense into highly degenerate Landau levels. Here, we use scanning tunneling spectroscopy to visualize the transition from spatial to magnetic confinement in quantum dots created in graphene/boron nitride heterostructures. In high magnetic fields, electrons redistribute themselves due to coulomb interactions leading to compressible regions separated by incompressible strips.

Topologically non-trivial chiral spin textures are present in systems with a strong Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) with a spatial extent of only tens to a few hundred nanometers. Thin film heavy metal/ferromagnetic bi- and multilayers have emerged as an ideal candidate for the development of such devices due to their tunability through a variation of the constituent components and relative layer thicknesses. However, to date, no chiral spin textures have been observed in thick ferromagnetic multilayers in which the disperate magnetic layers are exchange coupled. Furthermore, previous observations required either the presence of an out-of-plane bias field or careful tuning of a geometric confining potential to stabilize the skyrmion structure. In this work, we have imaged the formation of room temperature Néel skyrmions in a symmetric Co/Pd multilayer with Lorentz transmission electron microscopy for the first time [1]. Importantly, the size of the observed skyrmions is significantly smaller than previously reported systems in which non-multilayer films are used. The formation and resolution of the internal spin structure of room temperature skyrmions without a stabilizing out-of-plane field in thick magnetic multilayers opens up a new set of tools and materials to study the physics and device applications associated with magnetic chiral ordering.

Due to the unique topology associated with their band structure, two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) such as WSe₂, MoS₂ and WTe₂ provide a unique platform to develop novel electronics using the spin-valley degree of freedom. The incorporation of the heavy metal in the TMD suggests strong intrinsic spin orbit interactions, and could further result in a chiral DMI. However, confirmation of the DMI in such films and its effects on the spin ordering in the overlaying magnetic layer is lacking. Further, it has recently been predicted that orbital hybridization at the TMD/FM interface may occur and result in generation of a non-negligible magnetic moment in the TMD layer. In the present study we explore the interface induced magnetism in TMD/FM films. Finally, we also explore the effects of DMI and generation of chiral spin textures that result from it by measuring the imbalance between left and right-handed domains within the ferromagnetic layer. As the polarized neutron scattering is strongly dependent on spin chirality, this method has been utilized to study chiral magnetism in multilayer structures with strong DMI.

[1] S. Pollard et al. "Observation of stable Néel skyrmions in cobalt/palladium multilayers with Lorentz transmission electron microscopy" Nat. Comm. 8, 14761 (2017).

We investigated the possibility of employing the polycrystalline αPbO as a spintronics device by first principles calculations based on the density functional theory (DFT). In particular, we explored the effects of 3d transition metal atom, Fe on the structural and electronic properties of the layered αPbO (001) surface. Since it has been proven that ferromagnetic signals in experiments are often detected in thin films[1] we used a 2x2, 3-layered surface slab model of αPbO with 20 Å of vacuum space to simulate this environment in this study. The impurity atoms are placed in between the surface and subsurface of the crystal. The results show that the interstitial Fe interstitial forms shorter bonds with the oxygen atoms located at the surface and second layers. Also, this impurity is found to induce magnetism in the host crystal with magnetic moment value of 2.25 µB, which is highly localised on the transition metal.

In the bonding process, the Fe’s lower energy lying d states form overlaps with nearest neighbour oxygen atoms with non-bonding d states situated near or at the Fermi level and are spin split. These spin split orbitals induce spin polarisation of p impurity states of oxygen atoms in the subsurface. Moreover, the magnetic order is determined using the energy difference between the antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic states. The energy difference is 0.068 eV, suggesting that Fe interstitial impurities induce ferromagnetism in αPbO [2]. In this workshop, the effects of charge carriers to the magnetic properties will be briefly discussed. Finally, the position of the Fermi level in the density of states (DOS) suggests that in the case of α-PbO with Fe interstitials where the minority non-bonding d states are partially filled, the Zener’s ferromagnetic double exchange mechanism may be dominant and stabilizing the ferromagnetic state.

References:

[1] M. Venkatesan, C. B. Fitzgerald, J. G. Lunney, and J. M. D. Coey, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 177296 (2007)

[2] E. F. Arguelles, S. Amino, S. Aspera, H. Nakanishi, and H. Kasai, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 84, 045002 (2015)

Magnetic thin films often lose their magnetic order and even bulk materials can have significant deviations of the magnetic order and other properties near surfaces and interfaces. In strongly correlated oxides, there are many competing parameters affecting the material properties, complicating the understanding of these systems. We utilize a combined approach of bulk and surface sensitive techniques measuring many film thicknesses to back out layer-by-layer properties in La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ (LSMO) thin films. Strong changes from the bulk are observed for surfaces and interfaces. We will compare these models with theoretical predictions. LSMO has been widely proposed for diverse applications such as tunnel junctions and solid oxide fuel cells. Experimental support is provided by NSF (DMR-1608656). Theoretical support is provided by DoE (DE- SC0016176).

The ability to reduce the size of antennae would enable a revolution in wearable electronics, extendable to implantable electronic devices. Antenna miniaturization could be enabled by multiferroic materials, which enable the efficient control of magnetic via electricity. Multiferroic antennae, composed of coupled ferromagnetic and piezoelectric phases, could reduce antenna size by up to five orders of magnitude. This requires a magnetic material that is low loss, has an easily rotatable magnetization and is able to convert magnetic field to strain via magnetostriction.

Galfenol (Fe₈₄Ga₁₆, or FeGa) is a promising magnetic material due to its large magnetostriction (>200 ppm), high piezomagnetic coefficient (3 ppm/Oe), and high stiffness (70 GPa), but has high loss in the GHz regime. Permalloy (Ni₈₁Fe₁₉ or NiFe) is a soft magnetic material that has very low loss in the GHz regime (<20 Oe) but almost no magnetostriction. In this work, multilayer laminates containing alternating FeGa/NiFe layers were fabricated to reduce loss at high frequencies and properties were tuned via layer number and thickness. In this work, optimized multilayer laminates containing alternating FeGa/NiFe layers were shown to exhibit desirable magnetic softness (<20 Oe), narrow FMR line width (<40 Oe), high permeability (>400), and strong magnetostriction (> 70 microstrain). The focus of this work is to determine if the rotation of the magnetization of the individual layers is coherent with applied strain.